LAST EDITED ON Sep-15-08 AT 07:13PM (MST)[p]Here's an exciting, and true, story that some of you will debate the ethics of for quite some time. Why? Because Chad put this bull elk down at an honest 973 laser yards. Believe it or not here is the story of my cousin - Chad's - Wasatch opening day limited entry rifle elk hunt.
Like all other fortunate limited entry tag holders Chad's hunt started back in April when he found out he had drawn an elk tag that had taken him several years to draw. Family and friends were given the news by text message from Chad that same day.
From April until this past Saturday Chad and various family and friends spent all their spare time scouting for a bull that he would consider dropping the hammer on. Several nice bulls were spotted and monitored over the summer months. During the August time frame Chad had limited his choices down to two or three bulls in an area where he had pretty much hunted all of his life. The only challenge being getting close enough to make a shot that would kill the bull of his choice. These bulls were in long deep canyons covered with thick brush, trees and rock slides. Putting on a quick stock would not be possible. Getting a 500 yard shot would be the best we could ask for.
The evening before the hunt found Chad and one of his brothers in law in a canyon sizing up a couple of the bulls on his dream list. One was a nice 6x6 that might have scored 350 or so. The other one was also a big 6x6 with nice fourths and very tall but not very wide. He may have scored around 330 or so. By seven thirty they had seen enough to know those two bulls would live to die another day, and they headed back to camp.
The alarm went off in the Wall tent at 3:45 am on opening morning. After being dropped off at the trail-head We started our hike at 4:15 am. By 6:30 am we were in our pass glassing a couple of elk heards... none of which contained the 360-370 class 7x7 bull found a month earlier. We worked our way down the ridge glassing the steep canyons on both sides. Still no sign of the bull we were hoping to catch up with. At 7:15 am we spotted a bull with two cows feeding up and close to the top of a ridge across from were we were. It was the bull Chad was looking for. The big 7x7 with huge forths, and extra long G2 and plenty of width. We didn't have much time to decide what we wanted to do because the elk were headed for the top and would move into the next canyon off Forest Service land onto a private ranch.
The bull of choice was much further away than antisipated... by almost another 500 yards. The Bushnell range finder zeroed him at 973 yards where he stood feeding in the sun. Chad had shot at this distance before, but only at paper targets. Chad felt confident he could make the shot. He wanted the big 7x7 he had been watching over the past month. We quickly set up a solid rest from our day packs and got him into a comfortable prone position. We again ranged the bull and found him at the same distance he was before. We dialed the custom Leupold 6.5-20x30mm scope to 975 yards and loaded a .300 Remington Ultra Mag cartridge into the Christensen Arms custom rifle. Chad settled in to take the shot while the other three of us watched anxiously through the various optics we had.
We had little to no wind so no corrections were made to compensate. The scopes cross-hairs were held steady on the bulls shoulder when the first round was sent cracking through the crisp morning air. No movement from the big bull. He just kept feeding like nothing had happened. Chad sent a second round with the same results as the first. We couldn't tell were the bullets were hitting. From our target experience we thought that if anything we might be shooting under him. Chad held the horizontal cross hair on the bulls back and the vertical cross hair lined up with the front shoulder. After a pause that seemed like eternity the stillness of the morning was again filled with the crack of the rifle. There was no question about the third shot. A puff of dust came from the 7x7's shoulder as the bullet hit home to drop the bull and send him rolling into the aspen trees below.
The only thing we could all say was "Wow, Holy Cow"! and a few other things that people say when wild things like that happen.
It took us two hours to get over to the place the big bull elk was standing when he was hit. We didn't find him right away like we thought we should. We found the trashed brush and dirt where he tumbled down the mountain, but no bull. Imagine our gut feelings at the time. We spread out and started combing the patch of aspens for signs of blood and whatever else would lead us to the prize that had been shot at almost a thousand yards two hours earlier. We all had our noses to the ground when the report of the rifle slapped our ear drums and told us Chad had found the prize. The bull was still alive but couldn't move anything but his massive head and antlers. The shot had placed a hole through the heart and the middle of both lungs and the bull was relieved of any further suffering.
The big 7x7 was dropped at 7:30 am. With the help of several very good friends we had the meat, cape and antlers packed to the truck by 6:30 pm. What an awesome day on the mountain with family and friends. We'll post a score when we find someone that knows what they are doing.
For you gun nuts and ballistic experts we were using a custom .300 Remington Ultra Mag put together by Christensen Arms in Fayette, Utah. We were using a custom Leupold 6.5-20x30mm Long Range Scope with bullet compensation target turett specifically designed for our cartridge load. We were shooting a 180 grain Nosler Accubond bullet in front of a Federal GM215M primer and 96.0 grains of Reloader 25 powder. The muzzle velocity is 3,400 fps. The bullet velocity was at around 1,700 fps and the foot pounds of energy was at around 1,150 when it hit the animal. The bullet passed completely through the animal as you will see in the pics. In one of the pics you will also see the far ridge where the shot was taken from.
Like all other fortunate limited entry tag holders Chad's hunt started back in April when he found out he had drawn an elk tag that had taken him several years to draw. Family and friends were given the news by text message from Chad that same day.
From April until this past Saturday Chad and various family and friends spent all their spare time scouting for a bull that he would consider dropping the hammer on. Several nice bulls were spotted and monitored over the summer months. During the August time frame Chad had limited his choices down to two or three bulls in an area where he had pretty much hunted all of his life. The only challenge being getting close enough to make a shot that would kill the bull of his choice. These bulls were in long deep canyons covered with thick brush, trees and rock slides. Putting on a quick stock would not be possible. Getting a 500 yard shot would be the best we could ask for.
The evening before the hunt found Chad and one of his brothers in law in a canyon sizing up a couple of the bulls on his dream list. One was a nice 6x6 that might have scored 350 or so. The other one was also a big 6x6 with nice fourths and very tall but not very wide. He may have scored around 330 or so. By seven thirty they had seen enough to know those two bulls would live to die another day, and they headed back to camp.
The alarm went off in the Wall tent at 3:45 am on opening morning. After being dropped off at the trail-head We started our hike at 4:15 am. By 6:30 am we were in our pass glassing a couple of elk heards... none of which contained the 360-370 class 7x7 bull found a month earlier. We worked our way down the ridge glassing the steep canyons on both sides. Still no sign of the bull we were hoping to catch up with. At 7:15 am we spotted a bull with two cows feeding up and close to the top of a ridge across from were we were. It was the bull Chad was looking for. The big 7x7 with huge forths, and extra long G2 and plenty of width. We didn't have much time to decide what we wanted to do because the elk were headed for the top and would move into the next canyon off Forest Service land onto a private ranch.
The bull of choice was much further away than antisipated... by almost another 500 yards. The Bushnell range finder zeroed him at 973 yards where he stood feeding in the sun. Chad had shot at this distance before, but only at paper targets. Chad felt confident he could make the shot. He wanted the big 7x7 he had been watching over the past month. We quickly set up a solid rest from our day packs and got him into a comfortable prone position. We again ranged the bull and found him at the same distance he was before. We dialed the custom Leupold 6.5-20x30mm scope to 975 yards and loaded a .300 Remington Ultra Mag cartridge into the Christensen Arms custom rifle. Chad settled in to take the shot while the other three of us watched anxiously through the various optics we had.
We had little to no wind so no corrections were made to compensate. The scopes cross-hairs were held steady on the bulls shoulder when the first round was sent cracking through the crisp morning air. No movement from the big bull. He just kept feeding like nothing had happened. Chad sent a second round with the same results as the first. We couldn't tell were the bullets were hitting. From our target experience we thought that if anything we might be shooting under him. Chad held the horizontal cross hair on the bulls back and the vertical cross hair lined up with the front shoulder. After a pause that seemed like eternity the stillness of the morning was again filled with the crack of the rifle. There was no question about the third shot. A puff of dust came from the 7x7's shoulder as the bullet hit home to drop the bull and send him rolling into the aspen trees below.
The only thing we could all say was "Wow, Holy Cow"! and a few other things that people say when wild things like that happen.
It took us two hours to get over to the place the big bull elk was standing when he was hit. We didn't find him right away like we thought we should. We found the trashed brush and dirt where he tumbled down the mountain, but no bull. Imagine our gut feelings at the time. We spread out and started combing the patch of aspens for signs of blood and whatever else would lead us to the prize that had been shot at almost a thousand yards two hours earlier. We all had our noses to the ground when the report of the rifle slapped our ear drums and told us Chad had found the prize. The bull was still alive but couldn't move anything but his massive head and antlers. The shot had placed a hole through the heart and the middle of both lungs and the bull was relieved of any further suffering.
The big 7x7 was dropped at 7:30 am. With the help of several very good friends we had the meat, cape and antlers packed to the truck by 6:30 pm. What an awesome day on the mountain with family and friends. We'll post a score when we find someone that knows what they are doing.
For you gun nuts and ballistic experts we were using a custom .300 Remington Ultra Mag put together by Christensen Arms in Fayette, Utah. We were using a custom Leupold 6.5-20x30mm Long Range Scope with bullet compensation target turett specifically designed for our cartridge load. We were shooting a 180 grain Nosler Accubond bullet in front of a Federal GM215M primer and 96.0 grains of Reloader 25 powder. The muzzle velocity is 3,400 fps. The bullet velocity was at around 1,700 fps and the foot pounds of energy was at around 1,150 when it hit the animal. The bullet passed completely through the animal as you will see in the pics. In one of the pics you will also see the far ridge where the shot was taken from.
![IMG_2638[1].JPG](/xf/data/xfmg/thumbnail/5/5257-e17a03d84d52d4d098f007633c2144e8.jpg?1614230145)
